1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an educational and instructional game to teach mathematics to children and to provide a game to entertain children and young adults while competing against one another in a mathematical skills contest.
2. Description of the Related Art
Learning to solve mathematical problems has never been high on most children's list of fun things to do. Parents face a problem of how to enhance the education of their children especially in the field of mathematics. Many math games are far too involved and difficult and the children are overwhelmed and loose interest quickly. Also once most games are played several times, the answers are known and the novelty wears out quickly. In addition, most games are not easily played by the sight impaired since the positions of play must be seen.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,869,124 to R.W. Stein, et al., on Mar. 4, 1975 for a Mathematical Board Game Apparatus shows a game wherein the players move to squares that are an integer multiple of the number on the piece. A piece may be captured when a piece lands on an opponents square or the opponent lands on a square that is not an integer multiple of the opponents playing piece.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,315 to C.K. Tung on Nov. 21, 1978 for a Mathematical Based Board Game Apparatus describes a game of offensive and defensive strategies and has different transparent game board matrix overlays illustrating paths of movement.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,219,196 to J.F. DeCanto, et al., on Aug. 26, 1980 for a Mathematical Game Board Apparatus shows a rectangular upper playing surface with a plurality of holes through which show various numbers when a lower board is rotated. Mathematical functions are performed upon the numbers shown as indicated.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,565,374 to K.H. Pak on Jan. 21, 1986 for a Mathematical Board Game Apparatus describes a board having a grid of squares in horizontal and vertical rows. Tiles are placed on the grid to gain sums divisible by ten.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,116,062 to P.M. Johnson on May 26, 1992 for a Game Apparatus and method of Playing shows a gridwork of alternating playing and non-playing squares. Each player has one set of + and - numbers up to number twelve and one set of numbers with no + and - indicators on them. The game is played like checkers with extra points for performing the mathematical functions indicated.
The present invention solves these problems by offering a mathematical board game that may have several sets of cards displaying increasing levels of problem difficulty. As the children advance, a different set of problem and answer cards may be substituted. This allows the game to continue to be challenging even into adulthood yet not daunting to the beginning child who starts with a fairly simple set of problems. For variety, several sets of problems for each level of learning may be supplied. The board game and card sets may be supplied with braille characters and depressions on the cards to assist the sight impaired in playing and learning.